Best Laptop for Under $700

[Cold_Smoke_Ski]

I have About a 700 Dollar Budget For a Laptop and I want to Know What To Get? I enjoy gaming but am not super hardcore, I'll also be doing lot's of work ranging from Essays to Video editing... Any suggestions?
--I Was Thinking about the Lenovo G710-59400022
http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/essential/g-series/g710/?tt=c

 

[vmem]

"I enjoy gaming but am not super hardcore" this is a bit vague, can you clarify what types of games you would play? if you play something like BF4, even casually, you'll need a high-end laptop. on the other hand, things like angrybirds and plants vs zombies can be run on intel's integrated GPU.

by laptop, what features are you looking for? given that you do some video editing, I would think you want at least 1080p res screen? what kind of battery life do you think is reasonable? and what is your preferred laptop size?

 

[Prostar Computer]

there are plenty of viable options for around $700. The Clevos like we sell can be had with nice hardware really affordable, also something maybe like Lenovo ThinkPad X131e or ThinkPad Edge E531. If you're going to do gaming, I'd look for something with a discrete GPU. Also, if you're serious about video editing (like, you're going to be doing rendering a couple times a week) then I'd think about putting a little cash toward an SSD drive. IT cuts down on rendering big time. Just a thought.

There's also MSI, which usually has good hardware for what you pay. GP60-2OD-052US starts around 780 but it's worth looking at.

 

[Cold_Smoke_Ski]

As i have such a small budget i know ill have to make sacrifices... I would like at least a 14" screen and 1080p would be nice but given the amount of money i have... I think at least 4.5 hours battery life is reasonable. I dont do a whole lot of video editing but my school demands a certain level of that (5-6 times a month really). Thx for the input guys i appreciate it.

 

[vmem]

yeah, for that budget, MSI's laptop that prostar recommended is actually one of your best bets, you get a 15" 1080p screen, a decent GPU, and some other stuff all wraped up in a nice little machine.

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?gclid=CM_Y94mv5boCFc5xOgodnCsAOA&Item=N82E16834152463&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-All+Laptops+%2f+Notebooks-_-N82E16834152463&ef_id=UoOzhwAAAV3cQAKg:20131114225255:s

if you must stick to the $700 budget, the first thing I would sacrifice is monitor resolution over specs. given the things you like to do, something like 900p or a bit less is fine as long as the specs are otherwise respectable. this is what I'd get:

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834216539

 

[Prostar Computer]

The Lenovo G710 in your link is certainly a good option. Video editing tends to be very CPU intensive (depending on what you're editing and what software we're talking about), so the i5 in that laptop should suit you fine as long as you're not doing anything too demanding. Don't expect 4.5 hours of battery life while working, though. Even if you were to undervolt the CPU (and thus, risk instability), you probably wouldn't see 4+ hours while taxing the CPU with a video project.